


Can't Stay

by jeleania



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Growing Up, but not the other games, hints of sora x riku x kairi, post kh2, so no dream drop distance, sora's got a crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 18:08:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15868974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeleania/pseuds/jeleania
Summary: After everything he's gone through - Heartless fought, worlds saved, friends (and enemies) made - Sora finds that while he can go back to Destiny Islands, it may not be home anymore.





	Can't Stay

**Author's Note:**

> just a little piece I found while sorting old files. felt it was complete enough to post, so here you go.

 

They had been home for a little more than a month. Destiny Islands hadn't changed much - new little kids running around on the Play Isle, a few different shops, plant life grown taller. The aura of idyllic peace of the archipelago nation had survived through the destruction and recreation of the world, the place held in a bubble mostly untouched by time and the Darkness.

Sora was slowly going crazy here.

Oh, he had missed Kairi and the happy times he'd had here. Childhood memories had been bright spots he'd held close during the long worry-filled nights and lonely times when his spirits drooped. But he wasn't that little boy anymore, and the teen - the young warrior - he had become didn't... fit.

His mother, bless her, didn't feel any of the 'thank the stars you're alive and alright' her son did. She hadn't experienced the horror of being a handful of survivors of a whole world's destruction, something that had Sora waking from nightmares that first wretched year and still haunted him today. When Destiny Islands had reformed after he and the Keyblade and the Light had reversed the destruction of the Darkness, none of the masses who regained their lives recalled their time in the shadows, as Heartless or floating hearts within Kingdom Hearts. Then the long two years, one spent in enchanted sleep and the other battling Organization XIII and desperately looking for Riku - he had been nothing but a dream to her and everyone else on the Islands save Kairi. Even now, facing the reality of her child, her mind said he'd just been away a while on a trip, as if he'd left last week rather than over three years ago.

And this was just the issues with his single parent. Like other teenagers, he was expected to go to school or seek an apprenticeship. There were gaps in his education in areas like this world history, but he was way ahead in math science and even literature. Exploring various worlds that he had then wanted to learn more about and having a hands-on course on the mechanics of and handling of a gummi ship to travel the universe had greatly expanded his knowledge base. As for the literature, even at warp speed, it took days to weeks to get places - he needed something to fill the time and there were plenty of e-books on the ship's computers.

As for an apprenticeship, ship-wrighting - as in sea-going boats, not space-faring gummi ships - and running a business didn't have much appeal to him. Not when he had flown among the stars and learned the inner workings of various gummi ships. Not when he was too physically active to sit behind a desk unless he had something that really interested him to focus on. Though even then, it had driven Donald up the wall that Sora would read a book or plot out theorems while pacing around the ship halls, seldom walking into anything or anyone even if it was purposely placed in his way. And nothing here could match the wonders of traveling the universe or learning magic or the grim thrill of fighting to defend the people.

Even if every single Heartless vanished to never return - highly unlikely, nigh impossible really - and he never had to swing a Keyblade again, Sora wouldn't - couldn't stop helping people and wandering the cosmos.

And now he was here, with people wanting him to settle down into their little quiet way of life.

He'd wither away if he tried, chained down and caged.

Yet, he hesitated to leave. 

Just one call on his PHS to Donald or Goofy and, even if their own duties kept them busy, they would send one of the Disney gummi ships to fetch him. Or he could contact Leon or Yuffie or Aerith - Radiant Garden was reviving their gummi ship program since they could access the shipyards and garages again. During downtime between fighting and traveling, he'd been working with Cid to repair and rebuild and test out different ships, so he knew one could come get him without too much trouble. 

If nothing else, he was pretty sure he and Roxas could figure out how to open a Portal to the Paths of Darkness or maybe even the Paths Between he'd first instinctively used to get to Traverse Town when Destiny Islands fell. His Other would appreciate having something new to do since they were getting bored of the quiet planet.

In fact, if he really thought about it, only two things kept him here. Two people on either side of him, who he'd desperately searched the universe for. Leaving Destiny Islands would mean leaving them, and that both conflicted and terrified him in turns. They meant more to him than anyone else - no matter how many friends he made, no one could come close to replacing them. And what if Darkness came for them again? Sure, they could defend themselves to varying extents, but the fear of losing them was still there.

Couldn't stay, but couldn't bear to go. What a mess.

A nudge broke Sora from his tumbling thoughts. His gaze shifted from the stars appearing in the darkening sky to the young woman on his right. Tucking a strand of crimson hair behind an ear as she balanced on her side, Kairi gently teased, "You're going to get wrinkles, frowning like that."

On his left, Riku had to add his two munny. "What did you tell me - something about no sad faces allowed?"

The brunet tried for a cheerful smile, but it must have fallen flat. Violet-blue eyes narrowed beneath brows lowered in worry. There was honest concern as the female questioned, "Sora, what's wrong? Don't say nothing - something's been bothering you for weeks."

Shifting on the sand the trio was reclined on, the silveret seriously pressed, "Did you get a message you didn't show us? Or sense something from the Darkness? I haven't, but that doesn't lessen your abilities and you can sense the Light too."

He wanted to wave the matter off, to assure them that all was well, to keep on his happy mask. But the words were lodged in his throat, his tongue frozen and blind panic blanking his mind of an excuse. Now aquamarine joined the violet-blue peering down at him, both precious people worried at his continued silence.

Feeling closed in and smothered, Sora suddenly sat up, the other two having to jerk back to avoid being hit. Curling over his pulled up legs, the brunet loosely hugged his knees and stared at the sand. The gentle lip of waves brushed his toes as the ocean rose and fell, a distraction from the confused and troubled stares burning his back.

Kairi broke the natural sounds of the beach. "Sora, what -"

"I'm sorry." The words leapt, shaky and fast, from his lips, cutting off her query. Squeezing his eyes closed as they burnt with emotion, he tried to not tremble. He couldn't stop the truth from slipping out of him, couldn't lie to them. "I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore."

The dark behind his eyelids too unpleasant, Sora instead shifted his gaze up. Thousands of stars glittered down at him, faint murmurs of the life and Light of each world in the back of his mind soothing him. Voice steadier, he gave a wry chuckle. "Do you remember when we were little, just three kids building a raft and wanting to see beyond the Isles? So naive and idealistic and optimistic, it was almost silly but a nice goal, a worthy goal. We had next to no clue what the universe was really like, the wonder and the dangers that were out there. Then we were thrown into them with next to no preparation and forced to swim or drown."

The rhythmic thrum of the waves and calls of distant birds were the only sounds as he paused, Riku and Kairi patiently waiting.

Staring at the horizon, Sora spoke quietly. "We went through so much, things the people here could never imagine. And it changed us, changed me." Wordlessly, he summoned the Keychain of Oathkeeper into his hand, the star of shells the redhead had made him smooth against his palm. Thumb rubbing a chip on one edge, he confessed, "I always imagined finding the two of you, then just finding Riku since Kairi was waiting here, and we go home. We come back here to the Islands, probably meet on the beach and hug and smile and just have this happy reunion. But I could never see what would happen after that. I could never imagine what our lives would be like here, living on this world like our neighbors. Now I know why."

"I don't fit here anymore, have changed too much to be like Mister Cambridge or my mom or any of the others who settled down here." The smiley-face on the Keychain seemed to mock him, to ask why not. "I feel like I'm suffocating and trapped and can't keep living like this. Can't live here. I want to go back to the stars, to keep exploring worlds and learning magic and meeting new people. Even if the cost is having to fight Heartless and be a sacrifice to protect the worlds from the Darkness, it will be worth it." His vision blurred, then cleared when he blinked a tear to fall upon the Keychain. Now the hardest part to say, his voice not much more than a whisper. "The only thing keeping me here is the two of you. It would rip me apart to leave you behind, but staying... that would slowly kill me. I'm sorry."

Neither responded for several long minutes that seemed to stretched into an eternity to the Keyblade Master.

Then a broad hand buried itself into his hair, ruffling it, while a smaller one cupped his right shoulder. Fond exasperation was warm in Kairi's voice as she chided, "Silly Sora, you should have told us this sooner."

Riku's hand came to a stop, just resting in the soft mess it had made. "You're not the only one who changed. Even Kairi has, if not as much as the two of us."

"The time when everyone forgot the two of you," the girl mused aloud, "it was hard being the only one who felt something was missing. By the time I actually remembered, I had realized that Destiny Islands was too small, too quiet, too ...normal for me to want to spend the rest of my life in."

A deep chuckle and the other male added his own thoughts. "I'd known for years, long before the Heartless struck here, that I didn't want to stay here. Everything I went through, that just strengthened that. This is a nice place, but its not for me. For us."

Sora had slowly sat up properly, hope warring with doubt in his heart as he listened. He tried to speak, but his mouth was too dry and tongue unresponsive.

Fingers sliding through hair until they lightly gripped a sleekly muscled shoulder, Riku gave it a supportive squeeze. "You know, traveling by shadows and hunting Organization members and keeping track of your crazy behind didn't give me much time to actually look around the worlds I was on. I'd like a proper look at things."

A giggle preceded Kairi's words. "And there's a lot about my past I still don't know. Not to mention I still want to see the worlds too."

Well, they had as good as written their claims into the night sky with fireworks. He could read the message between the lines. Mentally tucking the Oathkeeper Keychain back into its subspace pocket with its fellows, Sora surged to his feet and spun around. Blue eyes bright with joy, he held out a hand of each of his dearest friends. "Then let's go see them all. Together."

Riku grasped his wrist in a warrior's grip while Kairi tangled their fingers, both standing and finding each other's hands too as they chorused, "Together."

High on elation and excitement, Sora bounced on his toes and grinned at them. When warm smiles, even from more stoic Riku, were given to him in return, he had to quash down a wild increasing common desire to press his lips to theirs. No, that would stay secret for a while longer, maybe even for the rest of his life. He wouldn't risk this treasured friendship by complicating things with feelings they may not return.

They were going to travel the worlds together, his most beloved people by his side - that would have to be enough. 

Sora would make himself satisfied with that and ask for no more.

 

\----- END ------

**Author's Note:**

> damn, I miss these kids...


End file.
